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BERNARD GILPIN (1517-1583)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 26 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BERNARD See also:GILPIN (1517-1583)  , the " Apostle of the See also:North," was descended from a See also:Westmorland See also:family, and was See also:horn at Kentmere in 1517 . He was educated at See also:Queen's See also:College, See also:Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1540, M.A. in 1542 and B.D. in 1549 . He was elected See also:fellow of Queen's and ordained in 1542; subsequently he was elected student of See also:Christ See also:Church . At Oxford he first adhered to the conservative See also:side, and defended the doctrines of the church against See also:Hooper; but his confidence was somewhat shaken by another public disputation which he had with See also:Peter See also:Martyr . In 1552 he preached before See also:King See also:Edward VI. a sermonon See also:sacrilege, which was duly published, and displays the high ideal which even then he had formed of the clerical See also:office; and about the same See also:time he was presented to the vicarage of See also:Norton, in the See also:diocese of See also:Durham, and obtained a See also:licence, through See also:William See also:Cecil, as a See also:general preacher throughout the See also:kingdom as See also:long as the king lived . On See also:Mary's See also:accession he went abroad to pursue his theological investigations at See also:Louvain, See also:Antwerp and See also:Paris; and from a See also:letter of his own, dated Louvain, 1554, we get a glimpse of the quiet student rejoicing in an " excellent library belonging to a monastery of Minorites." Returning to See also:England towards the See also:close of Queen Mary's reign, he was invested by his See also:mother's See also:uncle, See also:Tunstall, See also:bishop of Durham, with the archdeaconry of Durham, to which the rectory of Easington was annexed . The freedom of his attacks on the vices, and especially the clerical vices, of his times excited hostility against him, and he was formally brought before the bishop on a See also:charge consisting of thirteen articles . Tunstall, however, not only dismissed the See also:case, but presented the offender with the See also:rich living of See also:Houghton-le-See also:Spring; and when the See also:accusation was again brought forward, he again protected him . Enraged at this defeat, See also:Gilpin's enemies laid their complaint before See also:Bonner, bishop of See also:London, who secured a royal See also:warrant for his See also:apprehension . Upon this Gilpin prepared for martyrdom; and, having ordered his See also:house-steward to provide him with a long garment, that he might " goe the more comely to the stake," he set out for London . Fortunately, however, for him, he See also:broke his See also:leg on the See also:journey, and his arrival was thus delayed till the See also:news of Queen Mary's See also:death freed him from further danger . He at once returned to Houghton, and there he continued to labour till his death on the 4th of See also:March 1583 .

When the See also:

Roman See also:Catholic bishops were deprived he was offered the see of See also:Carlisle; but he declined this See also:honour and also the provostship of Queen's, which was offered him in 156o . At Houghton his course of See also:life was a ceaseless See also:round of benevolent activity . In See also:June 156o he entertained Cecil and Dr See also:Nicholas See also:Wotton on their way to See also:Edinburgh . His hospitable manner of living was the admiration of all . His living was a comparatively rich one, his house was better than many bishops' palaces, and his position was that of a clerical See also:magnate . In his See also:household he spent " every fortnight 40 bushels of See also:corn, 20 bushels of See also:malt and an ox, besides a proportional quantity of other kinds of provisions." Strangers and travellers found a ready reception; and even their horses were treated with so much care that it was humorously said that, if one were turned loose in any See also:part of the See also:country, it would immediately make its way to the See also:rector of Houghton . Every See also:Sunday from Michaelmas till See also:Easter was a public See also:day with Gilpin . For the reception of his parishioners he had three tables well covered—one for gentlemen, the second for See also:husband-men, the third for day-labourers; and this piece of hospitality he never omitted, even when losses or scarcity made its continuance difficult . He built and endowed a See also:grammar-school at a cost of upwards of £5oo, educated and maintained a large number of poor See also:children at his own charge, and provided the more promising pupils with means of studying at the See also:universities . So many See also:young See also:people, indeed, flocked to his school that there was not See also:accommodation for them in Houghton, and he had to See also:fit up part of his house as a boarding See also:establishment . Grieved at the See also:ignorance and superstition which the remissness of the See also:clergy permitted to flourish in the neighbouring parishes, he used every See also:year to visit the most neglected parts of See also:Northumberland, See also:Yorkshire, See also:Cheshire, Westmorland and See also:Cumberland; and that his own See also:flock might not suffer, he was at the expense of a See also:constant assistant . Among his parishioners he was looked up to as a See also:judge, and did See also:great service in preventing See also:law-suits amongst them .

If an industrious See also:

man suffered a loss, he delighted to make it See also:good; if the See also:harvest was See also:bad, he was liberal in the remission of See also:tithes . The boldness which he could display at need is well illustrated by his See also:action in regard to duelling . Finding one day a See also:challenge-See also:glove See also:stuck up on the See also:door of a church where he was to preach, he took it down with his own See also:hand, and proceeded to the See also:pulpit to inveigh against the unchristian See also:custom . His theological position was not in See also:accord with any of the religious parties of his See also:age, and See also:Gladstone thought that trimming employed by upholsterers to edge curtains, draperies, the catholicity of the See also:Anglican Church was better exemplified in his career than in those of more prominent ecclesiastics (pref. to A . W . See also:Hutton's edition of S . R . See also:Maitland's Essays an the See also:Reformation) . He was not satisfied with the Elizabethan See also:settlement, had great respect for the Fathers, and was with difficulty induced to subscribe . See also:Archbishop See also:Sandys' views on the See also:Eucharist horrified him; but on the other hand he maintained friendly relations with Bishop Pilkington and See also:Thomas See also:Lever, and the Puritans had some See also:hope of his support . A life of See also:Bernard Gilpin, written by See also:George See also:Carleton, bishop of See also:Chichester, who had been a See also:pupil of Gilpin's at Houghton, will be found in See also:Bates's Vitae selectorum See also:aliquot virorum, &c . (London, 1681) .

A See also:

translation of this See also:sketch by William Freake, See also:minister, was published at London, 1629; and in 1852 it was reprinted in See also:Glasgow, with an See also:introductory See also:essay by Edward See also:Irving . It forms one of the lives in See also:Christopher See also:Wordsworth'sEcclesiastical See also:Biography (vol. iii., 4th ed.), having been compared with Carleton's Latin See also:text . Another biography of Gilpin, which, however, adds little to Bishop Carleton's, was written by William Gilpin, M.A., See also:prebendary of Ailsbury (London, 1753 and 1854) . See also See also:Diet . Nat . Biog .

End of Article: BERNARD GILPIN (1517-1583)
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